Did you know… · Snake Hill is located in Secaucus, New Jersey, less than 15 minutes from Times Square through the Lincoln Tunnel · As early as 1874, Hudson County had horse-drawn ambulances made specifically to transport smallpox patients to Snake Hill · A 1909 map of the Hudson County facility shows two burial grounds on the east side near County Road, the road to Jersey City · At the very top of “the Hill,” a 430,000 gallon reservoir provided water for “state of the art” sewage management as well as steam heat for the complex · By the beginning of the 20th century, there were over 50 buildings at the facility including a penitentiary, two almshouses, a lunatic asylum, several infectious disease hospitals, three churches, and a school The buildings have disappeared, many of the burial grounds are unmarked and forgotten, and even the land has largely been obliterated by quarrying, yet Snake Hill has a story to tell. Volume One of this series offers a look at the facility’s beginning in the 19th century. It was a time when the New York metropolitan area had many dependent souls whose situation in life in some way, brought them to “the Hill,” and like the buildings that once housed them, they too have disappeared.

Did you know... - Snake Hill is located in Secaucus, New Jersey, less than 15 minutes from Times Square through the Lincoln Tunnel - As early as 1874, Hudson County had horse-drawn ambulances made specifically to transport smallpox patients to Snake Hill - A 1909 map of the Hudson County facility shows two burial grounds on the east side near County Road, the road to Jersey City - At the very top of "the Hill," a 430,000 gallon reservoir provided water for "state of the art" sewage management as well as steam heat for the complex - By the beginning of the 20th century, there were over 50 buildings at the facility including a penitentiary, two almshouses, a lunatic asylum, several infectious disease hospitals, three churches, and a school The buildings have disappeared, many of the burial grounds are unmarked and forgotten, and even the land has largely been obliterated by quarrying, yet Snake Hill has a story to tell. Volume One of this series offers a look at the facility's beginning in the 19th century. It was a time when the New York metropolitan area had many dependent souls whose situation in life in some way, brought them to "the Hill," and like the buildings that once housed them, they too have disappeared. About the Author: Linda L. Stampoulos lives in New Jersey, and often travels to the West to research material for her books. After completing her Undergraduate and Graduate Degrees at Montclair State University, she went on to Columbia University, to earn her Doctorate in Education. She has taught at both the Undergraduate and Graduate levels in the Schools of Health Foundations and Educational Foundations at Montclair State University. A large portion of her curriculum included the works of Joseph Campbell. In addition, she has devoted over twenty-five years to work in the field of Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Services. Her other works include "The Redemption of Black Elk" which was published in English as well as in German, "Black Elks Vermachtnis," and also "Two on a Bridge Guidebook and Workbook." She has also contributed to the Images of America series: "Visiting the Grand Canyon, Views of Early Tourism" which was listed among the Southwest Books of the Year, Best Reading 2004. In addition, she has previously worked on several projects with Native American author Kenny Shields, Jr. to produce: "Fort Peck Indian Reservation; The Little Bighorn, Tiospaye"; and "The Grand Canyon: Native People and Early Visitors." These and other works can be found at Pompanobooks.com

In 1987, skeletal remains were encountered during excavation just west of Old Fort Erie, in Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula. While possession of the land had been bitterly contested in 1814, it remained virtually undeveloped and only in the 1980s, with the construction of permanent homes, did excavations yield evidence of the distant past. An international team of scholars and scientists investigated the remains and identified the individuals’ nationalities for repatriation, where appropriate. The resulting archaeological dig has proven crucial to our understanding of the siege of Fort Erie, and provided new information about military clothing, personal gear, medical science, and other details of the day-to-day life of a soldier living under battlefield conditions during the War of 1812. Snake Hill provides a detailed account of this investigation, documenting an important story of suffering and carnage, and providing the reader with a rare glimpse at life and death during the War of 1812. This book contributes significantly to our understanding of events before, during and after Fort Erie’s 1814 siege.

An archaeological site that tells a story of structural violence in medical research In 2010, a pit containing over 4,000 human skeletal elements was discovered at the site of the former Army hospital at Point San Jose in San Francisco. Local archaeologists determined that the bones, which were found alongside medical waste artifacts from the hospital, were remains from anatomical dissections conducted in the 1870s. As no records of these dissections exist, this volume turns to historical, archaeological, and bioarchaeological analysis to understand the function of the pit and the identities of the people represented in it. In these essays, contributors show how the remains discovered are postmortem manifestations of social inequality, evidence that nineteenth-century surgical and anatomical research benefited from and perpetuated structural violence against marginalized individuals. A volume in the series Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Past: Local, Regional, and Global Perspectives, edited by Clark Spencer Larsen

A revealing parable of the conflicts that arise when pressures for land development collide with heritage conservation.